LET US DIALOGUE AND REASON TOGETHER

LET US DIALOGUE AND REASON TOGETHER

We the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops, having witnessed the recent happenings especially after the Supreme Court Ruling which nullified the 8th August, 2017 Presidential Elections are deeply concerned with the State of our Nation and, therefore, make the following Statements which we all urgently need to address and put in place to secure our Country.

We need as a Country to have the ability to stand for what is right, defend the truth and speak against evil and what is wrong. Unless we all see the need for this, then our Institutions will just be there for purposes of consuming public funds and not adding value to the same people they are supposed to serve.

We call upon Jubilee and NASA to urgently agree to IEBC’s invitation to dialogue, and chart the way forward with the aim of holding free, fair and credible Presidential Elections scheduled for 26th October, 2017. The dialogue will pre-empt imminent conflict and violence that is being fanned and organized by both Jubilee and NASA politicians. We call upon relevant agencies like DCI, DPP, EACC, the Police Service and the NCIC to take up their responsibilities and ensure the independence of Institutions, accountability of Institutions and the upholding of the rule of Law, justice and fairness.

We have examined the current environment and have concluded that unless we embrace dialogue and reason together and agree on common national steps to stability and effective governance, the risk of plunging into full blown conflict and a collapsing economy is real, and should therefore be avoided at all costs. We must now act as watchmen as the Lord commanded prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 3:17-19).

We call upon the President, His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta to emerge as a symbol of national unity and offer the needed leadership at this point in time.

As we are all aware, IEBC is the main electoral management body in this electoral process. The Supreme Court also stated clearly that a fresh Presidential elections be managed by the IEBC. We appreciate the steps the IEBC is taking to make necessary changes to ensure the coming elections will be free, fair, peaceful and credible. There have been demands from both parts of the political divide on IEBC, that the IEBC is trying to address. We, the Catholic Bishops, are convinced that this proposed meeting for dialogue should be an opportunity to address the pending issues surrounding the elections.

Finally, we hope that this cry from our hearts to all of you brothers and sisters as your Shepherds will be heard in good faith and that we shall pause for a moment and see that we are all winners when we sit around the table and talk, for we are brothers and Sisters who belong together to our nation Kenya and in the Lord.

We call upon all Kenyans and people of good will to restrain themselves from engaging in violent demonstrations, name calling, hate speech and threats which can only heighten the tension around elections.

We continue to pray for our Country so as to have a Peaceful and Credible elections.